trailer wiring woes

[bigbossman26]

Ok, I'm officially an idiot~~~ or at least thats what the better half calls me. Recently bought a 30 foot camper trailer. Wow what a deal I thought, needs a bit of work but nothing I can't handle. WRONG!!! I went to hook up the lights to the truck when I was pulling away and noticed that the plug ends on the trailer are all ripped off. Now I can't figure out what wire is for the right signal and what wire is for the trailer brakes, etc. Would be a fun ride if when I went to signal and the brakes applied intermittantly with the signal lights on the truck. I don't think I will be towing this thing too many times but with my luck the boys in blue will not find "no lights" etc. very funny. I am trying to find a manual of sorts for this trailer or a website dedicated to this very issue. I would assume heavy red and black wires are for an aux 12 v Battery, some for the trailer lights, some for the electric brakes, and some for???? Is this going to be a trial and error thing grab a fused lead from a 12 V source, ground the trailer and start hitting wires one by one to find out what does what? Thanks for listening....:o:o:o

[DmaxMaverick]

Lots of fun. Been there, done that. If you click on the "truck stuff pics" link in my sig, you'll find a trailer connector diagram. They are (supposed to be) universal.

[bigbossman26]

Thanks for the reply. I'm sure this is going to be great....:( Hope that the wires on the trailer match these colors...... Truck is not hard to figure out, it has a flat 4 pole connector that I wired up just to drag the boat around but truck has the brake controller so just need to find out where the wiring is and go from there I guess. Think the plan is just to find a lot at the lake and drop it and leave it. Easier and cheaper than making the ole 6.2 drag it back and forth an hour and a half each time we decide to go. Damn price for diesel now here in Saskatchewan Canada is the same price as reg. unleaded. $1.39 a liter or $6.31 a flippin gallon which means over $110.00 to fill up........:(:(

[DmaxMaverick]

Can't really help you with the brake controller wiring. Too much depends on who did it, and how it was done. You'll have to chase the wire from the source to termination. A test light and meter will be very helpful.

The trailer isn't too difficult. If the wire harness is intact, use a 12V power source to power the wires (be sure you have a good ground to the trailer from batt-). A battery charger is a good choice, as the circuit is protected and has peak detection (meaning it won't overload a circuit), and use the lowest amperage setting (all you need to do is light up a lamp, or get a reading from a meter). The wire colors should be consistent if it still has the original harness. If not, trial and error will be about your only option.

Good luck!

[bigbossman26]

I was afraid that was going to be the answer. No the plug ends are all gone from the trailer. Wires are all just hanging there.One at a time I will try them to see what does what, a few fuses later I should be up and running. Gotta love it when people butcher stuf, then leave it for some other poor sucker to figure out......fun, fun, fun!!!! One question though, when I do find out which wire is for the trailer brakes, after hooking them up, what is the proper setting for them, should the trailer slow the truck down or should the truck still do most of the braking with a little assist from the trailer? I don't plan on abusing the poor stock 6.2 and take this set up to the mountains but I do know the brakes work pretty hard trying to slow this thing down the way it is. No way I would be able to stop in a reasonable distance without the brakes hooked up. Most of the time I wouldn't mind but even driving through town scares me. Would not want to hit a kid or something. I imagine I could find myself in a lot of hot water if I were to get into an accident and they found out the brakes on the trailer were not operational. Wish me luck and I'll stop by the local dollar store for a box of fuses and have at er......................;)

[DmaxMaverick]

Ideally, the trailer brakes should hold their own, only adding a slight load to the tow vehicle brakes. From there, much depends on the health, adjustment, and capacity of the trailer brakes. They should come on smooth, and you should feel them gradually, but quickly, relieve the load on the truck's brakes. Operation depends on the brake controller design (hydraulic, inertial, timed), gain adjustment, and your actual brake pedal input. Too much truck braking and too little trailer braking can cause control issues, and overheated truck brakes. Too much trailer braking and too little truck braking can cause trailer wheel lockup, difficult turning, and problems on loose surfaces. Overloaded trailer brakes will fade very quickly, which shouldn't need further explanation.

[rhsub]

What make of trailer is it, 5th wheel ???, how many axles
Trailer brake + wire should be blue, will have a healthy spark when powered up and you should hear a hum at the wheels, wire should be at least 12 ga on tandem axles
Ground for brakes and lights should be white 12 ga
Check wiring from frame to axles as this is a common failure location
Signal/ brake lights are on the bright side of the bulb, taillights are on dull side of bulb
I have seen taillights on either the brown or green, and signal/brake on yellow, green, red or brown depending on manufacturer, these wires are usually smaller guage than brake, ground and battery wire
Battery wire is usually 12 ga or larger red or black wire
If you have backup lights they are usually yellow
Do you have an electric brake controller in your truck, is it electric or hydraulic. Black wire goes directly to battery +, no fuse, but I usually use a thirty amp circuit breaker in this circuit for protection, blue wire goes to trailer brakes, red wire goes to dead side of brake light switch (white wire on brake light swich I believe), white wire goes to ground, make sure black and blue wires are very well protected from shorting out. The last thing you want is to have no brakes due to a short:eek::eek:
Good luck
Ron